NH gov to sign Medicaid expansion into law

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — New Hampshire is about to join states that have expanded their Medicaid programs to cover a group of poor adults eligible for federal subsidies under the health care overhaul law.

Gov. Maggie Hassan is planning to sign the bill covering an estimated 50,000 people on Thursday.

New Hampshire had been one of six states that had not decided whether to expand Medicaid under the federal law.

The House voted Tuesday to send a bipartisan Senate plan to the governor that uses federal Medicaid funds to buy private health coverage for adults making less than 138 percent of the federal poverty limit, about $15,856 a year for a single adult.

Hassan is scheduled to sign the measure into law at 12:30 p.m. at the State House,